Byron Bay has some of Australia most iconic coast lines, stretching over several beaches. Natural beauty abounds wherever you are in Byron Bay. Walk the Cape Byron track as dawn breaks, and be one of the first people in Australia to salute the sun. The 3.7-kilometre (2.3-mile) loop leads through rainforest and windswept cliffs, with panoramic views across the ocean and hinterland. Keep your eyes peeled for humpback whales, which migrate along the coast between June and November.
Geology of Ground Zero (Weathering & Erosion)
Weathering is the process where rock is dissolved, worn away or broken down into smaller and smaller pieces. There are mechanical, chemical and organic weathering processes.
* Organic Weathering
Organic weathering happens when plants break up rocks with their growing roots or plant acids help dissolve rock.
* Mechanical Weathering
Mechanical weathering physically breaks up rock. One example is called frost action or frost shattering. Water gets into cracks and joints in bedrock. When the water freezes it expands and the cracks are opened a little wider. Over time pieces of rock can split off a rock face and big boulders are broken into smaller rocks and gravel.
This process can also break up bricks on buildings.
* Chemical Weathering
Chemical weathering decomposes or decays rocks and minerals. An example of chemical weathering is water dissolving limestone.
* Erosion
Once the rock has been weakened and broken up by weathering it is ready for erosion. Erosion happens when rocks and sediments are picked up and moved to another place by ice, water, wind or gravity.
How to log this Earthcache
You are standing on a rock shelf, take a good look at the rock shelf, and the rock wall to the west. Answer the following questions given the information above.
Please email the CO your answers to the following questions. Feel free to log your find on the day you find this Earthcache, and have the answers to the CO within 14days.
(No need to enter the water during low tide, GZ may be not accessible during high tide, so time your find.)
Q1. - (a) Looking toward the sheer rock wall facing you, do you see vertical or horizontal layers? (b) looking at the rock shelf you are standing on, do you see north/south or east/west layers?
Q2. - Given in the information above, in your own words, what has happened at this location, and explain the evidence that you rely upon.
Q3. - Looking at the wall and the rock shelf, estimate how long ago this event occured. Eg 10s, 100s, 1000s of years ago. Explain how you you came to that conclusion.
Q4. - Take a photo of either yourself and the view facing east, or your GPS and the view facing east and post it with your log.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about this interesting rock wall formation and the effects the weather has upon our coast line